Christmas tree festival, St Laurence's, Stroud

Back in Stroud 24 hours early, owing to there being No Room at the Inn in Lincolnshire, I enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs cooked by Steve, and I lined the baking tin in preparation for the Christmas cake, which S was going to make.

Walked down to St Laurence's, where I'd arranged to meet a friend to view the trees. Yesterday in Newark I'd attended a similar festival, but in a larger church, with a one way system. I'd found myself missing the 'communi-trees' of Stroud's festival, with their handmade decorations. Today's festival did not disappoint: we went round viewing the trees several times, stopped for cups of tea in the pop up cafe, and were later offered miso soup by C, the deputy mayor. I think we were there for around three hours, just hanging out, catching up, before we roused ourselves to visit a few shops for essentials. As I've decided to sponsor a guide dog puppy's training in lieu of buying presents, there is nothing I need to buy now, though my friend thinks I should buy some chocolate puppies to give as tokens. Not sure that chocolate puppies actually exist, though.

Back home, S hadn't actually started on the Christmas cake, so we mixed it between us, taking turns at different stages. It's still in the oven.

Then we watched the football. Am I dreaming, or did England just beat Senegal 3-0, getting through to the quarter finals?